I just saw on Birthright Wiki that a Regent Mage can use ley lines. These seem to work differently to real-world ley lines according to Birthright.net. It seems that a Birthright ley line is made by a Regent Mage going somewhere and thinking for a bit to create a link.

Rules aside, how do these ley lines work out in gameplay?

It seems that nobody except the Regent Mage is able to use the ley lines they create and that they all vanish when they die. Does that mean that nobody else can "hack into" a ley line to steal power?

Does each Regent Mage have an isolated network of ley lines? Or do they connect up or cross each other?

Is there any way for a group of players to disrupt or destroy a ley line?

Can people actually see or detect ley lines or is it purely a meta-concept to explain cities being linked up over time?

agathokles wrote:Yes. These are mostly realm magic and domain actions, so they only apply within the Birthright extensions to AD&D 2e. I'd need to reread the books to get more specific.

Thanks GP.

I've always thought that ley lines were an interesting concept. It's a shame they are not used in more campaign settings.

From what you say, it would seem that that most people would have little to no interaction with the ley lines in Birthright.

Exactly. Ley lines are only used by wizards to cast realm magic -- essentially, they serve to allow a wizard to cast spell from one province while leveraging a source from a different province. Since sources are more powerful in wilderness regions, ley lines serve to allow the casting of realm spells in settled areas, which is obviously a major concern for domain rulers and wizards that cooperate with them.

Overall, there are only a few mages able to use ley lines: those who control source holdings. Usually, these are human, elf or half-elf individuals (about 60 of them exist in Cerilia), although a dozen or so are awnshegh (people who physically manifest their bloodline by changing into monstrous forms), ehrshegh (the same, but for non-evil bloodlines) or even dragons (one or maybe two), and there are a few groups that control a source collectively (including a college of magic, a group of three brothers, a group of five court mages, and a temple of mage/priests). Thus, there is a total of less than 100 wizards who can tap ley lines in the entire continent.

Marco Fossati wrote:ley lines are very importat for a wizard, since they allow them to cast powerful realm spells even in civilzed area, where source are less powerful than those in unsettled provinces.

They have a manteinance cost a turn to be active.

Book of Magecraft provides rules to help DMs keeping track of them.

Are there rules for player characters creating new ley lines in Book of Magecraft? Is it anything like the rule in CGR1 The Complete Spacefarer's Handbook for clerics to create links between deities and crystal spheres where they have not formerly been worshipped? Do you need an established base to create one?